7:56 AM
A quick spin through the usual sources to give you some links before I light out for my family reunion in the territories:

• Write Hard, Die Free; I want one of these pins. (via Making Light)
  
• Judging a book by its cover (via Metafilter)
  
• I thought the Star Wars Alphabet Project--an attempt to design a Star Wars Universe fighter for every other letter (i.e., beyond A-Wing, X-Wing, etc.) sounded stupid...until I clicked the link. Some brilliant design work and incredible LEGO construction (also via Metafilter.)
  
• Good for Fox Searchlight for starting their own blog, especially if they keep up the pace. But it seems a bit cheap to be hosting it on BlogSpot. Hopefully it's just a test project and once they get a good response they'll put it on their own webspace and throw some design money at it (via Boingboing)
  
• The Hipster Bingo Random Card Generator. Quick, I demand a Geekster Bingo version that I can play at GenCon. (via many sites)
  
• An amusing game(?) that I hadn't previously heard of: "Find a Human at Customer Support" (via Electrolite)
  
• The trouble with Google (on Slate)
  
• A profile of comics annotator Jess Nevins (via Bookslut)
  
• Expect this one to be added to the Sources category at the left: the National Geographic Photo of the Day (via Incoming Signals, which also provides a link to another fantastic photo archive at the Library of Congress: Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991)
  
• Re: The Escapist comic mentioned a couple weeks ago on OD--it's becoming increasingly unclear exactly what Michael Chabon will be contributing to the project beyond his name on the cover.
  
• Kurt Busiek spills the beans on the next big Astro City storyarc--a twelve parter that, given the current frequency of release, will last sometime into 2005.
  
• "It doesn't want to make you successful, it wants to make you happy.: Slate takes a look at Friendster, and so does Wired News.
  
• It's about time: the White House email system gets less user friendly (via multiple sources)
  
• Somehow I missed this parody of the Honda "Cog" spot until now (via Adrants, who wants to see more of this sort of thing)
  
• Grand Theft Auto Vice City for the Xbox. Of course, next up is 3. (via Gamers with Jobs)

Okay. Time to head to the airport. See you Monday.